Left to shut down IT today

The IT industry of West Bengal remains apprehensive about the impact of the Citu-sponsored industrial strike on August 20.

Most employees of IT companies operating from Sector V in Kolkata’s Salt Lake, the hub of BPO and IT companies in Kolkata, have been asked to come into office by 6am on August 20 and stay back overnight or till the strike is lifted.

BPOs and call centres, on the other hand, have made arrangements for employees to stay back after work tonight and leave only tomorrow after work.

Sector V houses some 300 IT companies. A few of the companies, which may not work or employees who may not turn up on Wedensday, will make up for it by working through Saturday and Sunday.

The state IT department, too, has not taken any measure to help employees reach their offices safely. Earlier, the department would issue stickers marked ‘essential services’ to the IT companies and vehicles that ferried employees.

But the department decided not to issue such stickers after some vehicles carrying the stickers were damaged by bandh mongers.

According to Debesh Das, IT minister of the state, people who do not wish to participate in the bandh will not be prevented. “Police and security arrangements of Sector V will be looked into by the administration and we are sure that no untoward incident will occur.”

It may be recalled that about a dozen party cadres heckled an IT employee, damaged the vehicle, which was ferrying the person home, and thrashed its driver for daring to venture out on a Left Front-sponsored bandh in June this year.

According to a spokesperson of Cognizant, "We have asked our employees who want to turn up on Wednesday to send request emails on Tuesday to the administration department. The department will organise cars to ferry employees before 6am on August 20. The employees will have to stay overnight or till the strike is lifted. The employees who will not make it on Wednesday will have to make up for it during the weekend."

Kalyan Kar, MD of Acclaris, said, "The state should not let bandhs affect the IT industry as we manage international clients who do not understand this concept of bandh."

According to Som Mittal, president of Nasscom, while the IT industry recognised the right of political parties to call bandhs or strikes, IT companies in turn expected politicians to understand the 24x7 nature of their business and compulsions of client deadlines.

Clearly, although the IT and ITeS sectors have been classified under 'public utility services' operating 24X7, the reality is far from this.